Juventus' Champions League Win over Manchester City Must Kickstart Season

Juventus travelled to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening in poor form, the Italian giants yet to record a win in their opening three Serie A fixtures. Yet the Champions League appeared to bring out the best in the Bianconeri, who return to Turin with three points after an excellent 2-1 victory over Manchester City.

Both teams came into the fixture missing key men, with Sergio Aguero deemed unable to start the match for the Premier League side. He was given a place on the bench, but the striker was suffering the effects of a rough challenge last weekend meaning Wilfried Bony took his place.

The visitors announced earlier in the week that Claudio Marchisio had suffered another injury, their official website ruling him out for 30 days with a torn muscle. That forced coach Massimiliano Allegri to push Hernanes back into midfield, creating space for Juan Cuadrado to earn his first start alongside Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata in attack.

Elsewhere, the Bianconeri restored Stephan Lichtsteiner, Patrice Evra and Giorgio Chiellini into a backline that had yet to keep a clean sheet in 2015/16. The Premier League side came into the game in much better form, winning all five of their domestic fixtures without conceding a single goal.

That confidence proved telling in the early part of the game, with City dominating proceedings and Juventus looking nervous. Stefano Sturaro was particularly poor from the outset, losing the ball cheaply only to see a superb save from Gigi Buffon deny Raheem Sterling the chance to open the scoring.

Paul Pogba had a goal ruled out for offside before Fernandinho, Aleksandar Kolarov and Bony enjoyed a string of chances before the first half came to a close. The home scored in somewhat controversial circumstances after the restart, Vincent Kompany almost pushing Chiellini into the ball and forcing him to net an own goal.

PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images

“It clearly should’ve been disallowed,” City boss Manuel Pellegrini confessed to Mediaset Premium after the game (h/t Football Italia), but Buffon denied them a second with a superb double save from Sterling and David Silva.

Once again needing to chase a game, Juventus sparked into life as an excellent cross from Pogba found Mandzukic and the striker made no mistake in guiding the ball home.

The Croatian then made way for Paulo Dybala, but it would be Morata who turned the result around for La Madama with another great goal.

Turning two defenders, the 22-year-old rifled the ball past Joe Hart, the goalkeeper unable to prevent yet another Champions League goal for a player who netted in both legs of the semi-final and then the final last season.

Another save from Buffon prevented Yaya Toure from snatching an equaliser, and Juventus finally notched a win that the club captain told Mediaset Premium could well become the catalyst for instant improvement.

“We saw the right reaction and that is the first building block of this season,” Buffon said as he left the field (h/t Football Italia). “We put in a strong performance. There was focus, tactical wisdom, determination and technical quality.”

Each of those qualities had been missing against Udinese, AS Roma and Chievo, with Allegri also insisting that a victory over such an illustrious opponent should help turn around their fortunes.

Jon Super/Associated Press

"You're always motivated for the Champions League and this win tonight is a massive morale boost,” the coach told Premium Sport, per the official Juventus website. “It will help us do better both in the Champions League and in Serie A. It's psychological.”

Indeed, with Juventus back to winning ways, they now face league encounters with Genoa and Frosinone, with wins essential with Inter having taken maximum points thus far. The boost in confidence the group of players and their underfire coach will take from this victory cannot fail to lift them, giving them the belief that they can embark on a run of positive results.

It showed they can play in a variety of ways even without important figures like the Turin-born Marchisio, with others such as Stefano Sturaro and Hernanes stepping up when it mattered. Their forthcoming opponents will have seen the same, and all those things should combine to see a very different Juventus when Serie A resumes this weekend.